Saturated Fat: An Enemy of Type 2 Diabetes Control (2024)

When most people think of a diet that leads to poor diabetes control, they may think of a diet high in carbs and sugar. While those types of food do impact your blood sugars, consuming too many saturated fats can be an enemy against diabetes control,too. This is because a hallmark of pre-diabetes, type 2 diabetes, and worsening type 2 diabetes is insulin resistance.

Saturated Fat and Insulin Resistance

First, what is insulin? Insulin is a hormone produced by your pancreas to control your blood sugar levels. Insulin helps move the sugar from the blood into your cells for storage and energy. In other words, insulin is the key that unlocks the door of our muscle cells to let sugars in. Insulin resistance in the state of your body where insulin is not responding properly to move the sugar into the cells, which causes a rise in blood sugars as a result. The pathophysiology of insulin resistance is somewhat convoluted, but what is known is that saturated fat plays a role. It has been known since 1927 that increased consumption of fat delays the process of blood sugars going into the cells, which means that sugars hang around longer in the bloodstream.¹ The results of both animal and human studies also show that a high intake of saturated fat is associated with insulin resistance and development of type 2 diabetes.² This is because an uncontrolled state of insulin resistance leads to a higher risk of getting type 2 diabetes. People are also at higher risk of insulin resistance if they are overweight or obese.

Not All Fats are Bad

Contrary to the connotation of the word, not all fats are unhealthy. Two main sources of fat that we will focus on are saturated and unsaturated fats. Saturated fats are found commonly in animal products, such as red meats and dairy products. On the other hand, unsaturated fats come from mainly plant based sources and consists of foods like olive oil, nuts, and avocados. Studies have shown that in people with diabetes, saturated fats cause insulin resistance whereas unsaturated fats can improve insulin sensitivity.³ Because of this, the consumption of vegetables fats is favored in place of animal fats and processed grains.³ Not only are plant based foods lower in saturated fats, they are generally lower in calories and jam-packed with nutrients and fiber to nourish the body.

Ways to Improve Insulin Resistance

Lifestyle changes, particularly diet, address ones of the root causes of type 2 diabetes: insulin resistance. Following a plant-based diet can be a solution since animal products can contain a high amount of saturated fat. A plant-based diet generally includes legumes, whole grain, fruits, vegetables, and nuts, and discourages most animal products and refined foods.⁴ The Adventist 2 study, which included about 89,000 people extended across 50 years, demonstrated a substantial decrease in diabetes incidence in those who ate a vegetarian diet. The study also suggested that those who eat meat once or more days a week have significantly higher rates of diabetes.⁵ Plant-based diets also have been shown to work better in reducing blood sugars, body weight, and cardiovascular risk compared to diets that include animal-based products.⁶

Plant-based eating patterns, such as the DASH diet, healthy Mediterranean, and healthy vegetarian diets, have been shown to be associated with better health and lower risk for disease according to nutritional epidemiology, randomized controlled intervention trials, and most literature.⁷ These diets are also appropriate for the vast majority of people. Furthermore, exercise, with or without weight loss, helps improve insulin sensitivity so your body can use the insulin it naturally produces better.⁸ That in turn can mean lower doses of your diabetes medications, or even coming off the diabetes medications altogether, which can lower your costs on how much you spend on diabetes care. It is shown that after adjusting for population age and sex differences, the average medical expenses for people living with diabetes were about 2.3 times high than people who do not have diabetes.⁹

Dangers of Uncontrolled Blood Sugars

Controlling blood sugars is important because the longer a high amount of glucose is in the bloodstream, the more damage it can cause to your blood vessels, nerves, and tissues. Therefore, it is very important to have your doctors check your feet, eyes, and kidneys at least yearly if you have diabetes. People with uncontrolled blood sugars are also at higher risk for cardiovascular complications like heart attacks and strokes and are more prone to infections.¹⁰ Plant-based diets have demonstrated improvements in blood sugar control, which can possibly reduce or prevent the incidence of long-term complications of type 2 diabetes.

What You Can Do

Talk to your doctor or dietitian about eating more plant-based foods. It may also be easier to think of changes to what you eat as a lifestyle choice instead of as a diet. Small changes to the foods you consume can make a big impact on your health in the long run. Eating healthier doesn’t mean it has to be more expensive either. Shopping for produce in season, or even visiting your local 99 cent store that carries groceries can be helpful methods to save you money and keep you healthy too. You don’t have to be vegan to experience the benefits of a plant-based diet either. Any steps you take to adding more plant-based foods onto your plate can improve your blood sugars.⁵

Key Takeaways

To summarize, striving to increase the amount of plant-based foods you eat, minimize consumption of animal-based foods, increase your physical activity, along with taking your diabetes medications regularly, can make a positive impact on your blood sugars and overall health!

References:

1. Dietary Factors That Influence The Dextrose Tolerance Test, J. Shirley Sweeney MD, Archives of Internal Medicine, December 1927
2. ARIC Study Investigators; Plasma fatty acid composition and incidence of diabetes in middle-aged adults: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Volume 78, Issue 1, 1 July 2003, Pages 91–98, https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/78.1.91
3. Rachek, L. (2014). Progress in Molecular Biology and Translational Science (pp. 267-292). Elsevier.
4. McMacken M, Shah S. A plant-based diet for the prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes. J Geriatr Cardiol. 2017;14(5):342-354.
5. Tonstad, S., Stewart, K., Oda, K., Batech, M., Herring, R., & Fraser, G. (2013). Vegetarian diets and incidence of diabetes in the Adventist Health Study-2. Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases,23(4), 292-299. doi:10.1016/j.numecd.2011.07.004
6. Trapp, Caroline B., and Neal D. Barnard. “Usefulness of Vegetarian and Vegan Diets for Treating Type 2 Diabetes.” Current Diabetes Reports, vol. 10, no. 2, 2010, pp. 152–158., doi:10.1007/s11892-010-0093-7.
7. Laddu, D., & Hauser, M. (2019). Addressing the Nutritional Phenotype Through Personalized Nutrition for Chronic Disease Prevention and Management. Progress In Cardiovascular Diseases, 62(1), 9-14. doi: 10.1016/j.pcad.2018.12.004
8. Duncan GE, Perri MG, Theriaque DW, Hutson AD, Eckel RH, Stacpoole PW: Exercise training, without weight loss, increases insulin sensitivity and postheparin plasma lipase activity in previously sedentary adults. Diabetes Care 26:557–562, 2003
9. Economic Costs of Diabetes in the U.S. in 2017. (2018). Diabetes Care, 41(5), 917-928. doi: 10.2337/dci18-0007
10. American Diabetes Association. 2019 Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes. http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/42/Supplement_1. Published December 17, 2018. Accessed December 17, 2018.